


Henry? Henry? oh my god he dead.

by xxx_Calliope69_xxx



Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: No one talks about how Charles thought Henry was dead man, bon appétit, minor cannon divergence, so I talked about it to myself, this is my first time posting so if i'm doing something wrong please let me know!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:55:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26188324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxx_Calliope69_xxx/pseuds/xxx_Calliope69_xxx
Summary: Henry didn’t have to hear him to know what his other option was. He knew he should just go back, try calling the government for help and getting out legally. But god he didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of catching him once again.Even if it meant-“Hm? Well that's just too bad then.”Henry felt the weight of the truck begin to suck him down into his death,and wished he made a better choice.
Comments: 101
Kudos: 385
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	1. Chapter 1

_“God I wish I made better choices.” _Henry thought, looking down through the broken window of his stolen truck, at the nothingness of the ravine below. It was calming, the darkness ready to catch him when he fell. But maybe he wouldn’t have to fall, if he could sneak along the narrow rocks jutting out, maybe he could escape and__

__“I have to say Henry, I’m impressed- really! I am!”_ _

___“Damn it” _Henry Thought as he poked his head out watching as Dmitri sauntered towards him, having his men point their guns at every possible place Henry could escape. _“No, come on, you can outsmart this asshole, Come on three brain cells MAKE THOUGHT” ______ _

______“You’ve got two options here, Henry.” he sang, knowing both options were in his benefit. “You can stay in there-” He gently pushed the truck with his foot, causing Henry to almost vomit. He snapped his head up from the darkness, refusing to acknowledge that he might end up down there, alone and forgotten-_ _ _ _ _ _

_______“Oh fuck Charles probably thinks I've forgotten about our TF2 night!” _It was a stupid thing to start worrying about, your friend thinking you’ve ditched them when you’re about to die. But it was all Henry could focus on. Him and Charles had been doing missions on the occasion, since he had nothing better to do, and the two had gotten close.They were going to meet up tonight at Charles place and play TF2 together, and maybe CS:GO after. His one real friend in the last five years probably hated him. He was going to die alone.__ _ _ _ _ _ _

_________“I should’ve called Charles and asked him for help- SHIT I should have called the government and had them tell this Asshole that I've been pardoned! Shitshitshitshit I had so many options! I could have asked that girl in the cell for help, we could’ve escaped together! God why can’t I be smart for one- why’d he stop talking?” ____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Henry was so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed that Dmitri had stopped talking. It was quiet, only the creaks of the truck and small movements on snow breaking it. Henry didn’t have to hear him to know what his other option was. He knew he should just go back, try calling the government for help and getting out legally. But god he didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of catching him once again._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Even if it meant-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Hm? Well that's just too bad then.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Henry felt the weight of the truck begin to suck him down into his death,_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________and wished he made a better choice._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Henry’s disappearance couldn’t have happened at a worse time. The Top Hat Clan were getting ready for something big, Galeforces's entire force big, and they really needed their two best men briefed and on the front lines as soon as possible._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Charles absentmindedly stared at his phone, re-reading the last few texts before Henry disappeared, hoping that maybe he had just missed something, and a clue to where he was, was there, waiting for him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Anything” Galeforce asked, looking up from his map of the Dogobogo jungle._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“No,” Charles sighed “I just don’t get it! His scooter was still at his house, he didn’t tell me that he got bored and went rouge-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Why would he tell you that?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“I made him pinkie promise too, so I could have a chance to convince him not to.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Charles-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The tent flaps opened, and a soldier came in, looking stressed. “Sir, I-uh have an update on the Henry Situation-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Is he ok?” Charles said, quickly standing from his seat._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Uhhhhhhhh, not really.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“What do you mean?” Galeforce asked_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“He’s dead.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________There was a pause. It took Charles a moment to process what he had said. Henry- Henry couldn’t be dead. He was invincible! Charles had been with him on those missions, seen him get ruthly beaten by guys ten times his strength and walk away not even caring. How could he be dead?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Elaborate.” Galeforce asked, seeming unfazed by the news_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“When we put out the message on all the communications, the one asking for information on Henry, this complex called the wall answered-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Complex? Like a prison?” Charles asked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Yeah, they had custody of him-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Why did they have custody of him! He hasn’t done anything since we pardoned him!” Charles yelled, tears were beginning to form as he processed the fact that he wasn’t going to see Henry again.  
Ever._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Charles,” Galeforce put a hand on his shoulder, and tried to speak gently “Stop interrupting, we need to know what happened.” Charles just sat down and Galeforce nodded at the soldier to continue talking._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Yeah, I asked about that, they said that their warden doesn’t, and this is his words, give a flying shit about any pardonings. They took custody of Henry for his previous crimes, and he died while in custody.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Did they specify what of?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“No, General.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________General Galeforce sighed and messaged his temples. He knew this needed to be investigated, young people don’t just die, especially people like Henry. But that would require sending people he needed here, to do work he couldn’t afford, in the hopes that maybe one guard would tell the truth instead of lie or stay quiet.  
It was too close to the Top Hats launch. He didn’t have time to remake his plan of attack, and deal with this Wall._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Go inform the others that we’ll be changing our plans from Henry and Charles support to something else.” Galeforce told the soldier, he saluted and scurried out of the tent. Galefoce sat back down and looked over to Charles._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Do you want to sit this one out, Charlie? I’d understand it if you did.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“No,” Charles said as he stood, “No, I'll fight! Since we’re scrambling for a new plan, I might get to use my greatest one!” he forced his regular cheerful smile on his face._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Charles, are you sure-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Of course General! We can’t let those Top hats win!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Charles stood back up and headed towards the exit “I’m gonna get some grub, you want anything?” The general nodded no and Charles went on his way._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Past the mess hall,_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Past the camps chain link wall,_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________And into the jungle. He wandered far enough that no one would see him, and sat down on a thick root jutting out of the ground. He pulled out his phone and opened up a camera. It took him a moment, but he found an old picture from that time they went to a boardwalk, it was of Henry at a standoff with a seagull over some abandoned fries. That was the first time the two hung out together as friends instead of colleagues._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Charles laughed at it, remembering how he had to bring Henry to the first aid, not for seagull wounds, but because he got food poisoning from his won fries.  
Then he began to cry, because he was never going to have another moment like that, again._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles goes and finds out the truth about Henry's death

Charles had only disobeyed orders once. When he first joined, there was a small skirmish with some Top Hats trying to cut the power of the base he was staying at. It was dealt with rather quickly, but a soldier had been captured. He was told to stay put, they’d form a rescue plan and go from there. 

But Charles already had a plan.

When he and the other soldier arrived back to base, his commanding officer immediately began to rip him a new one, yelling about how he needed to learn how to obey orders and how much the helicopter he destroyed cost. Charles almost started crying, but luckily Galeforce had stepped in and argued his case.

Charles had been on Galeforce's squadron ever since, as one of his loyalist and dutiful men. And he would continue to be, after he found out what happened to Henry. 

The men who usually guarded the roof of The Wall were gone, giving him the perfect opportunity to sneak in. Once he landed, he hopped out, and ran towards the door, ready to throw his weight at it and bust it open. But instead collided with one of the returning guards. They both crashed to the ground as the other one pulled out his rifle ready to shoot. Charles scrambled to get himself off the guard, shooting his hands in the air once he was standing.

“Who are-” The menace dropped completely once he caught a glimpse of Charles' jacket front, the Military name tag visible “Oh- Oh you are from Us government?” 

“Uh yeah- Yes! Yes I am.” Charles said with new found confidence, putting his hands down “I’m here to investigate the death of Henry Stickmin.”

Both looked at each other, nervously, and back to him. “You- uh- you didn’t say anything about coming by today.”

“You guys didn’t say anything about imprisoning an innocent man, so i’d say we're even.” Charles said bitterly. “Anyways, can you guys take me to the warden?”

“Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure,” he slurred, nervously “Uh- Alex, watch the roof while I take him to Mr. Petrov.”

Alex nodded and the two were off down the stairs. The guard kept looking back at him, and then snapping his head forward. Charles didn’t know what to make of it, was he just nervous that a government agent was here? Or was he nervous that he was looking into Henry’s death?  
They reached a door and he awkwardly knocked.

“Uh- Mr. Petrov, sir?”

“What is it?”

“Uh, a man from the Us government is here, he’s asking about Stickmin’s death.”

He didn’t reply, just came and opened the door. He stared annoyedly at Charles, then looked at the guard.

“You, go back to your post-” that’s all he needed to hear, he skittered off. Dmitri scoffed 

“Coward. You-” he snapped back to Charles, “Come in and get this over with.”

Charles puffed out his chest, trying to look brave, and followed him in. He went behind his desk and sat. standing next to him was another older man, this one much more muscular. Charles sat down across them, smuggling the urge to push the chair back, away from them. 

“Name?” Dimitri asked, obviously annoyed.

“Charles, Charles Calvin” Charles said, trying to seem annoyed as well,

“So, Charlie, you have questions about Stickmin’s death?” 

“Yes.” Charles said, already mad that he was using his nickname, “You guys didn’t tell us How Henry died. Or why he was even here! You knew he’d been pardoned of all crimes, right?”

“I don’t give a shit about pardons, he was a criminal. And if your country wasn’t going to punish him properly, then I had to step in.”

“What? But he wasn’t a criminal anymore! He hadn’t done anything illegal in almost three years!” 

“Anymore,” he turned to the man beside him, a smirk on his face “He thinks people change.” the two laughed and Charles grit his teeth.

“It’s true!” Charles yelled, standing from his seat “He’s been working with me against the Top Hats since he was pardoned!”  
“I don’t doubt that, but that doesn’t mean he’s changed, it means he’s found a good cover story.”

“That’s not true! He-”

“Was a good man who’ll be missed.” Galeforce said, putting a hand on Charles shoulder and giving it an angry squeeze.

Charles' stomach dropped. He slowly looked back at Galeforce. He didn’t look angry, just very disappointed. Charles didn’t say anything as Galeforce moved him away from the chair and sat down. 

“Who are you?” Dmitri asked

“I’m General Hubert Galeforce, I was supposed to be the one asking you these questions, but Charlie here must have gotten confused about his orders.”

“Ah, so he’s not just emotional, he's an idiot. Interesting men you have working under you, Hubert.”

Galeforce shot Charles a look, knowing he’d say throw himself head first at Dmitri if he didn’t. He returned his gaze to Dmitri and spoke, unfazed. “I just want to know why one of my best men was incarcerated without any active warrants, and how he died while in your care.

“Well, as I already told your subordinate. don’t give a shit about pardons, he was a criminal, he needed to be punished.”

“Ah, so it wasn't for anything he’d done. But because you can’t keep your beliefs from interfering with your work.”

Dmitri tightened his smile “you say it as believing criminals should be punished for their crimes is just my opinion, when last time I checked it was a law.”

“Last time I checked putting someone in jail after they’ve been pardoned was against the law.”

“I’m sure he had committed crimes after he had been pardoned, people like him don’t change, Hubert, I've worked with enough criminals to know this.”

“Again, you’re personal opinion-”

“Oh? My opinion? So is breaking out of prison not illegal?”

“He was pardoned for that.”

“Not for breaking out of this prison.”

“What?” Charles interrupted.

“He broke out of this prison the first day he was here. Stole a van and- ah, i’m finally answering your second question- killed himself by refusing to surrender and come back.”

“How did he kill himself from refusing to surrender?” Galeforced asked.

“Truck turned over, hanging right over the ravine. I tried to convince him to just surrender and get out, but ah- he was stubborn and the wind blew the truck right over. Sad really.”

Charles felt like vomiting. The thought of Henry being trapped as he fell to his death-  
He turned quickly and exited the room as the two argued if the wind could be strong enough to blow over a truck. It couldn’t, Charles knew that, which meant that Henry had been-

God why wasn’t he there to save him?

He found himself back on the roof, the two guards, again, gone. He walked over to his helicopter, rolled open the door, crawled in, and again, cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, the entire time writing Galeforce's and Dimti's interaction; THE BOYS ARE FIGHTINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles goes to investigate some criminal activity up in Russia.

Charles hadn’t left his apartment in a month. Not because he didn’t want too, god he would’ve loved to have just left, but there was nowhere to go. Galeforce had put him on temporary leave, and banned him from the upcoming Top Hat raid, until he was feeling better. He wished he hadn’t, because now he was just stuck alone with his thoughts.

At least he had video games to distract him.

“Oh my god, Bold_Action_Man, get your shit together!” A teammate angrily yelled as Charles missed another person.

“Bro, calm down.” Charles replied, rubbing his tired eyes. It had gotten late, but he refused to sleep. He didn’t want a repeat of last night's nightmare.

“No! You keep fucking missing! Get good or leave!”

Charles softly snorted “Ok! ok! i’ll get good.” out of the corner of his eye he spotted movement of the enemy color and shot. “See? I got go-”

“YOU FUCKER, YOU’LL KILLED HENRY420! HE WAS ON OUR SIDE!” 

Charles choked on the rest of his words, through his coughs he got out a weak “I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean too-”

“YES YOU FUCKING DID! I SAW YOU KILL HIM ON PURPOSE!”

“No! I swear I didn’t mean to kill Henry!”

“THEN WHY’S HE FUCKING DEAD???”

“I-I’m sorry-” his voice began to crack

“Mike_Coxlong chill,” another player said “Your making him cry-”

“WELL MAYBE HE SHOULDN’T KILL HIS TEAMMATES! YOU FUCKIN HAPPY YOU KILLED YOUR FUCKING TEAMATE YOU-”

Charles ripped off his headphones and slammed the power button on his console. He paced his apartment, head in his hands, trying to get his words out of head.

“It’s just a coincidence, he didn’t mean my Henry. It’s just a coincidence, he didn’t mean my Henry. It’s just a coincidence, he didn’t mean my Henry.”

_“I killed Henry.”_

He snapped his head out from his hands. Sweating and almost in tears. He needed to go, to do something, to get his mind of everything-

His Government Comms Device! 

He ran over to where it was laying on a table, and slapped it on. The general might have banned him from the Top Hat raid, but he didn’t say anything about not going on broadcasted missions! Well, the Leave might have _implied_ that, but he couldn’t get in trouble for anything implied.

“Level six broadcast, looking for a sharp shooter to take out my BITCH EX WIFE-” _Next_

“Hot Singles are in your area-” _Next_

“This is a level nine broadcast, looking for boss babes-” _Next_

“Hey, can anyone go up and investigate the Kamchatka Peninsula-” _Next-_

_“Wait,”_ Charles thought _“That’s where The Wall is.”_

He quickly hit the back button, and listened

“Hey, can anyone go up and investigate the Kamchatka Peninsula? They’ve had several jewel thefts around there. This Place called The Wall said for us not too, because they it’s escaped convict and they don’t want anyone to know, but fuck em.”

Jewel thefts? Around the wall area? That the wall didn’t want people to know about?

Wait- 

WAIT! That had to be Henry! Who else would steal _Jewels_ in _rural Russia_? He must have lived through the fall! And he had to make money somehow, so he reverted back to theft! And the wall was trying to capture him so no one would know about his escape!

Charles felt a weight be lifted off his soul. His eyes dried and his smile had returned from his four month hiatus. He pressed a couple of buttons and accepted the mission. 

Shower, he needed to shower. And brush his teeth. And comb his hair- He needed to clean himself up after his little depression spiral.

He ran to his bathroom, needing to leave as soon as possible. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charles had been flying around the area for almost three day, and still no sign of Henry. 

The people who’d been robbed had no idea where he went, neither did their neighbors, or their enemies. It was almost like he just appeared and disappeared, no tracks left behind. There was a trail though, that went from the wall north. So that’s where he went.

Charles had perched his helicopter on a small cliff, watching the road that led to the closest town from the one that was last robbed. He was sitting, his feet hanging off the edge. It wasn’t freezing like it had been the previous two days, just a cold. He slowly breathed out, watching his breath freeze in the air. A gentle breeze blew and several snowflakes came down, he stuck out his tongue and caught one.

He hoped Henry had a good coat.

The loud sound of several cars speeding down the road broke his trance. He jumped up and ran into his helicopter. He grabbed the sniper off his dashboard and looked down the scope. Several Wall cars were following someone on a motorcycle with a helmet on. Trailing behind the motorcycle was a large pearl.

There he is. 

Charles threw the sniper aside, dodged the bullet that shot from it, and flew after them. Amazingly, none of them seemed to notice him, or they cared more about Henry than him. All guns staying pointed at the motorcycle. They were all heading towards a bridge that might be able to support a motorcycle, but definitely not any trucks. Ah! He’d cross over with Henry, and land in front of him! Then he could hop and they could get away! 

Then a guard, one of the ones from the roof, pulled out his bazooka and shot the bridge. Everyone came screeching to a stop. Except Charles, who flew right past. He couldn’t stop, because then it would be obvious he was following them, he needed to be sneaky about this. He parked his helicopter behind some rocks, far enough away to where no one would be able to tell it was a government copter.

He set up his gravity bubble system to shoot automatically at them in a few minutes. Then he grabbed his robo helper that he kept tucked and flew back over the ravine. Silently landing to the left of all the chaos, behind some large trees.

Henry was protectively standing in front of the pearl and the motorcycle. In front of him was a very angry Dmitri. The buff man, again, behind him. 

“Can you never do anything you're told, милая? All you had to do was wait out your sentence, and you’d be fine, but NO! You had to EMBARRASS ME!”

_“Embarrass him? I guess him breaking out of prison is embarrassing for his record.”_ Charles thought.

Henry flipped him off, and he sighed, sounding genuinely sad. “I didn’t want this for you, милая. I always thought you’d do great things. But I should've known better. You’ve always been a trouble maker, and people really don’t change.”

_“What is this guy talking about- OH NO THE BUBBLE”_

“Милая, please come back and prove me wro-”

“HENRY GET DOWN!” Charles interrupted, tackling him to the ground, holding tightly onto some dead bushes The bubble went off, and sent everyone and everything flying miles back. Except for Charles and Henry.

Chales stood up, helping Henry up. Henry stood up, and looked awkwardly down at him.

“What? Not even a thank you? You’ve lost your manners Henry!” Charles said, playfully, trying to contain his joy.

Henry took off his helmet and-

This woman was not Henry. She had short red hair, and brown eyes looking at him with empathy.

Charles forced himself not to show how broken he felt, he didn’t want this poor lady to feel like he didn’t want her here. “A-Ah! You’re not Henry!”

“Nope,” she said, trying to mask the awkward atmosphere with a humorous tone “But-uh thanks for saving me from getting caught by that asshole.”

“Oh it’s no problem! I’d bet you do the same for me!”

“Yeeeeeeeaaaaaah, of course!”

The two stood awkwardly for a moment, neither of them knowing what to say.

“I’m- uh, My name is Charles, Charles Calvin.”

“O-Oh! I’m Ellie! Ellie Rose Pe- Rose. Just Ellie Rose.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you Ellie” Charles said, choosing to ignore her stutter at the end. “You wanna come with me? I have a way to get over the bridge.”

“Are you going to Arrest me? I can see you work for the government.”

“Huh? Oh, nah! I don't do arrests, I just help people get to where they need to go!”

“Can you take me as far away from here as possible?”

“Sure! As long as you leave anything stolen behind.”

“Alright fair enough.”

She emptied her pockets for a solid five minutes. Every time Charles thought she was done, she’d pick out, like, five more things. It was bonkers.

“Ok, there we go,” she said, giving him a smile “let's get out of here!”

The two flew back over the and hoped inside the helicopter, and they were off. 

“So, what do you do to get locked up at the wall?” Charles asked

“Stole some shit from the president, and the Warden had a personal grudge against me.” Ellie asked, casually reclined on her seat. “So, this Henry guy you were looking for, full names Henry Stickmin, right?”

“Yeah! How’d you guess?”

“The warden had been talking about how some government agent came looking for him, and how he was persistent. And since You’d have to be pretty persistent to pull what you just did, I put two and two together.”

“Wow, you’re pretty smart!”

“I know~” she said with fake cockiness, “So why’re you looking for Henry in the first place? I thought he died.”

“He-” Charles swallowed, roughly “He did. But I heard of some jewel thefts around the area, and I was hoping that it’d- that it would be him.”

“Were you two close or something?” she asked, pulling herself up from her lounge. 

“Y-Yeah, he was my best friend, and my partner in missions.”

“Oh.” 

They both were quiet again. Then She stood up and walked over to him, she rested her elbow against his shoulder. And looked down.

“Well, I can’t guarantee a partner, but I can be a pretty good friend. I do owe ya for saving my ass back there.”

Charles smiled up at her “You wanna go back to my place and play TF2?”

“I would fuck love too!”

The two flew off, and Charles had almost forgotten how broken he felt learning that Henry was, if fact, really dead. 

Almost.

Hey, at least he got a new friend.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles and Ellie interact with some Top Hats

“And then I said, ''No,  _ you’re  _ a cabbage!” and kicked him in the nuts.” Ellie said, picking up a bottle of dark blue nail polish, “You like this color?”

“Yeah it’s nice!” Charles said, giving his hand to her so she could paint his nails, “So what happened next?”

She gave the bottle a gentle shake and popped it open “I stole his pearl and ran! But it turns out fucking Dmitri was in the area and he and his other pigs spotted me. I think they were chasing for almost an hour. Then the bridge got blown up, and you know the rest.”

Charles did know the rest. After he saved Ellie, they went back to his apartment, where he found Galeforce and several soldiers searching through his things. Apparently when he hadn’t responded to Galeforce’s message about how the Top Hat mission had failed, he’d assumed the worst, especially after he was told Charles copter had gone missing.

When Charles had walked in asked what was going on, Galeforce had almost knocked him over with a hug. And then began to scold him for scaring him like that. He didn’t even notice Ellie until she had split some milk while she was raiding Charles fridge, and loudly yelled ‘fuck!’. 

Galeforce had recognized her from the watch list, and sighed. Not an angry “shit my best man just developed a habit for befriending felons.” sigh, but more of a “I guess this is who I am now. The General who recruits convicted felons to his squadron.” and asked Ellie if she was interested in joining them, stating plainly that they’d need all the help they could get since the Top Hats were running even more amok then before. 

Ellie was hesitant, telling him that she didn’t want to be a cog in the murder machine that governments were more often than not. She had told Charles later it was also because she didn’t want to be under another authority figure's influence, like she had been growing up. Galeforce told her that they didn’t fight wars, just big groups like the Top hats. And he threw in that she’d get a pardon. That was all he had to say, and they all left to take her back to base for basics.

Everybody but Charles, who was basically grounded by the General for making him think he was dead. 

When Ellie was out of basics, and Charles grounding had ended, they joined up and had started working together. They were currently stationed in Utah, around Angel's Landing prison where the previous leader of the Top Hat Clan and his Right Hand man were locked up. There had been rumors that the rest of the clan was planning on breaking them out. And Charles and Ellie were not going to let it happen.

Charles took his freshly painted hand from Ellie and gave her his other. He gently blew on his nails, admiring the color. It was such a deep shade of blue, and it had a little sparkle in it. 

“COPTER ONE, DO YOU READ COPTER ONE!” The Charles headphones blared from, luckily not his head from around his neck. 

Charles quickly flipped them over his head with his wrists, and moved the mic to his mouth, “T-This is Copter One, reading you loud and Clear! Did the Top Hats finally show up?”

“THE TOP HATS SHOWED UP!” His headphones shrieked. 

“What? Did The Top Hats show up?” Ellie asked.

“The Top Hats Showed up!” Charles Replied, quickly standing to get to the Front of the copter. “What are they in? A helicopter? A mini spaceship?”

“That’s the thing! They’re not using anything aerial! They’re using a truck! THEY’VE ALREADY GOTTEN THE TWO OUT USING IT, THEIR HEADING YOUR WAY!”

Truck? They were using a truck? The whole reason they were out in the first place was so they couldn’t use something like a truck! Angel’s landing was made up of thousand mile high rocks, with only way from the prison being thin roads! 

Well, there went the majority of the plans to shoot them down in a massive aerial fight. Time for plan V.

“Ellie!” Charles yelled, whipping around “You brought your motorcycle right?”

I don’t know, let me check,” Ellie turned her head a slight bit, at the huge motorcycle in Charles field of vision, like, not hidden at all. She turned her head back to him with her thumbs up “Yea, I got it.”

“Well get ready to use it!” he said strapping himself in “We’re moving from Plan H to Plan V!” 

“Ah hell yeah! Plan Vroom time!” 

“Get ready! We're taking off!”

Ellie quickly strapped in, holding on tightly to her belt. Charles took a deep breath, summoning all of his courage once again for another fight. For another day of making sure people were safe. Another day of flying away from his pain, always looming behind him and-

He pushed the helicopters’ Yoke with his palms, moving it forward a couple of inches. Then he tried hooking his wrists behind it, pulling and lifting the copter a couple inches in the air. Maybe if he used his feet?

“Charles?”

“Yeah?”

“How come we aren’t in the air yet?”

“I’m- uh, having a couple of difficulties-”

“Oh?” Ellie unstrapped herself and came up. She watched him for a minute, as he struggled to steer without his fingers.

“Charles? You know you can use all of your hand, right?”

“But you just painted my nails, I don’t wanna ruin them.”

“Charles it’s fine, we’ll deal with it after we deal with the escaped Top Hats.”

“But all your hard work-”

“Charles it’s fine!”

“But-”

“CHARLES GO-

“AH!”

Charles grabbed the yoke and slammed up and forward, sending Ellie tumbling back. He flew hard and fast beside the only road a truck could possibly get down. He saw the tire tracks and followed, leading him right to a Red, four seat truck. In the back sat a man with a small, vomit green tophat, arming a Gatling gun.

“Ellie! Top hats spotted! Get everything in position!” Charles yelled to a still on the floor Ellie. She gave him a thumbs up, and he began to catch up.

They managed to get pretty close before the Gatling gun operator finally noticed. He gave an obnoxious smirk and called out to the rest of the riders that “Don’t worry this government Helicopter everyone! I’ll gun it down!”

Charles quickly put some coordinates onto the copter’s auto pilot and ran to the back. Ellie had gotten the motorcycle ready to jump, along with some guns and a smoke bomb. Chales hopped on and grabbed the back of Ellie’s shirt, holding on tight. This was only his third time on a motorcycle, and the bumby and steep roads probably wouldn’t do anything to help him stay on. But he was confident that Ellie could manage to make this as smooth as it could be.

The copter swung to the side, swinging the door open in the process, and pointed them right at the truck. Right as the guy shot Ellie ignited the smoke bombs and jumped. 

The smoke went off in an ugly grey cloud, even igniting little sparks to make it really look like the guy had destroyed their copter. Giving the copter enough to get away, and for them to make their entrance without immediately worrying about getting shot.

“See? I told you- Oh god damn it!” His spiel about how great he was, was prematurely ended with their landing. 

Charles stood up, leaning on Ellie for balance, and took out his pistol. 

“Oh no you don’t!” He screamed, and aimed his gun at the two of them.

Ellie dodged the bullets, effortlessly weaving in between bullets on the thin road like a dance. Charles was too busy focusing on not falling off at every bump to manage many landed shots. But he got their left back tire, and their back window. 

The shrill scream inside was heard over anything. And the guy looked back at it with pure terror. No, he looked at it with pure terror when a man with red hair and a long handlebar mustache came out. His expression was nothing but anger in a physical form. He didn’t bother to look at the other guy, keeping his eyes locked on Charles and Ellie.

“Go in the truck and protect the Chief. I’ll do your job for you.” he growled, low but audible to all. 

“Yes-Yes Sir!” and with that, it was just the three of them.

“I’m going to give you two  **one** chance to back off, If you don’t do it I-”

“We don’t accept it!” Charles yelled, shooting at his shoulder. 

He moved aside, letting the bullet fly past him. He looked back at them slowly, pounded the roof of the truck twice, and leapt off at the both of them. A faint “Right!” was heard as the three of them collided, falling hard and fast against the hot rock road. The motorcycle teetered on the edge behind Right, Charles pistol nowhere to be found.

Right stood up, pulling out a battered metal bat. Ellie stood up as well, slipping on a pair of weathered brass knuckles, matching his dangerous air. Both were planning, daring the other to throw the first punch. Charles made that decision easy, by quickly jumping onto his back, trying to put the other man in a choke hold.

Right quickly flung him off, and Ellie charged him. She threw a punch that he deflected with his bat. He wound back, swinging for her ribs, but she ducked and jumped forward, landing a hard blow on the underside of his jaw. He grabbed her hair and swung her around, sending her careening to the ground. Once she hit the ground she rolled back into a standing position. She slipped off her shoe and kicked it at him, hitting him between the eyes, and while he was open, punched him in the ribs. He responded by bringing his bat down hard onto her spine.

While they fought, Charles laid there like a slug, besides his helicopter and gun, it was his only defense. Which worked in their favor, because Right wasn’t looking when he slid backwards away, causing him to trip and drop his bat. Ellie used the opportunity to grab it and deliver a swift blow to the head. Knocking him temporarily out. 

Ellie stood huffing as Charles stood up, tapping their coordinates into a device to summon the helicopter back. 

“You should sit down.” Charles said “take a rest before we have to go get the others.”

Ellie nodded laying on the hot ground, not feeling the pain over her screaming wounds. 

“You're both idiots, you know that?”

They both stood to attention, facing Right, who’d managed to get himself standing. 

“You know why I chose to fight you instead of just escape?”

Neither of them asked, but he still answered “To distract you while they got the Chief away and safe. But once he is, then-”

A quick beam of green light came down next to him, and he fell into it before Charles and Ellie could stop him.

They watched as he disappeared, and Ellie angrily yelled “THEY CAN FUCKING TELEPORT NOW!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ya'll know a helicopter steering wheel is called a Yoke? shit's crazy


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since we've heard from Henry, I wonder what he's up to.

Henry wasn’t used to snow, he did grow up in a desert after all. But he refused to let his impending hypothermia stop him, not when he came this far. 

He kicked the door to the bar open, hands too busy holding his ticket to a warm meal. The only one sober enough to react was The bartender, who just glanced over and gave him an appreciative smile. He put the box down in front of her and sat down, slipping off his mask and goggles while she put a cup of black tea in front of him.

He grimaced at the cup, smelling it’s wet mud smell already. He sighed and took a swig, scrunching up his face as it burned it down his body. Warming him up, but leaving a thick, earthly taste in his mouth. He’d tried to develop a taste for tea, being the best drink the bar had for warming someone up after a long trek in the snow, but he just couldn't.

The bartender, an older lady who didn’t talk or sign, placed a menu in front of. Henry pointed to the goulash, she nodded and headed back to the kitchen. Leaving the cash register open, the only other people being thoroughly drunk or too busy on their own shit to worry about someone else's problems. He could just-

He shook his head, angrily. No, that wasn't who he was anymore, he wasn’t going to hurt anymore people, not unless they really deserved it. The man beside him dropped after six beers, leaving a lit cigarette on the table. Henry lifted away from the spit beer and took a long drag. He needed to get his mind off things, relax before he had to get up and get back out there, looking for some way to contact Charles, or anyone in the Government.

No one had cell phones out here, and even if they did, they wouldn’t get service. Most days they couldn’t even get the TV to pick up anything. Government agents had passed through a couple of times, but they either didn’t understand sign, or thought he was just some confused alcoholic trying to get some money.

He sighed and took another long drag, looking at himself through the tea’s murky reflection. He almost looked like he had when he was younger, when he first broke out of prison and was trying desperately to get his life back on track. Super thin from not eating enough, dried blood and dirt caking his face and the underneath of his nails, and his curls had gone straight from the amount of dirt and sweat weighing them down. He really couldn’t blame any of the soldiers for thinking he was an alcoholic, hell, he kind of was.

Would Charles even recognize him?

He chugged his tea so he wouldn’t have to look at himself anymore, almost retching at the taste. 

“ä̴̞͙̟͝ń̴̛͉̼̫̓͒d̶̡̺̲̓̕͝ ̴͕̻̮̈́́̍b̴̡̧͈̩͂̈́a̵̖̋č̴̣͙̹̝̉̍k̷̺̫̄͜ ̶̨͉̳͕͓̊t̶͈͎̺͙̏̈́͋̈ọ̶̧͖̐̄́̒ ̷̟͎̬̈́y̵̯͂ȏ̶̰͍̟͔̄u̷̖͋̅,̶̩̤͗̾̑̏ ̶̡̉̇ͅA̶̝͙̰̣̅̎̉̇l̸͉͎̬̲͌̈̾̀͝ǐ̶͎c̸̟̺̞̋͐͌͝ḙ̶̳̒͋̇͘- Good Evening,” Henry looked up at the TV. The static had cleared and had revealed a woman reporting on BBC. Damn, it looked like he was here for one of the lucky days when the TV really worked. 

“The Top Hat Clan remains untouched by the governments of the world,” she stated. Henry rolled his eyes, of course it was news on the Top Hats, he didn’t want to hear about them. Especially after what had happened to Charles.

The Last time the Tv had worked, it was a report on how the leaders he put behind bars had escaped. That’s not what made him mad, it was when Charles had shown up on screen. Seeing Charles after almost a year felt amazing, and seeing that his cellmate, Ellie he would learn, had escaped felt amazing. They were talking about their plans to get the leaders back, and put the entire clan behind bars. He felt like a ghost, in front of him were people he knew, he wanted to talk to and reunite with and befriend. But he couldn't, he had to just sit and watch.

He listened tiredly as the lady talked about the assholes, until he heard a crash from outside. Not the crashes from drunk drivers he was used to, but a deadly crunch that would have come from something fetal. He stood up, and zipped his coat, which was simultaneously too big and too small, and went outside to see the carnage.

He found three Top hat Members besides their crashed truck, protecting a large safe. He slipped out the steak knife the bartender had given him for these kinds of situations (steak knife for Top Hats, bread knife for bar room brawl, etc.), and got ready to fight. But none of them even noticed him. A bright green beam came down and swept them away. 

Shit, that was a way out. As a prisoner yes, but a way out. Anywhere was better than this cold-

Charles.

Charles and Ellie had ran up to the remains and stopped. Ellie swore and Charles sighed, then they began discussing something, facing away from Henry. Henry wasn’t paying attention, he was frozen in place. This felt like a dream, this had to be, it couldn't be this easy to finally get out and back to Charles, back to his previous life 

Charles turned, and stopped. Finally seeing Henry. “Henry?”

This wasn’t a dream. Henry smiled and opened his arms, ready for Charles' inevitable tackle hug.

“HENRY!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, two chapters within 12 hours of each other. let's hope this happens more often.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the end.

“HENRY!” 

Charles crashed into Henry’s open arms and sobbed, gripping him tightly, as if he'd fade away if he Didn't.

He wanted to say something, he wanted to tell Henry how much he missed him, how glad he was that he was alive, how pissed he was that Henry hadn't told him he was here. But every time he'd calmed down enough to speak, he'd look at Henry and burst into tears and plant his face back onto Henry's chest. 

Henry didn't mind in the slightest. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed Charles till the thought of letting go made him sick. So he held him, occasionally letting go to let Charles try to speak, and when he failed, embraced him even harder. 

They stood like that for a while, embraced with a slight sway. Fingers turning blue from the cold and lack of blood flow from the hug. Till Charles finally got the strength to speak without sobbing.

“I heard you died.” He said, shakily. 

Henry pulled his arms in front of them and signed _“Who told you that?”_

“The place you were imprisoned, The Wall.”

Henry’s eyes widened in surprise _“Damn, I didn’t think they’d admit I escaped and “Died” good on them for being honest.”_

“Speaking of yOU DYING!” Charle grabbed Henry’s coat collar and shook him as hard as he could. “WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL ME??? OR ANYONE IN THE GOVERNMENT??? WERE YOU JUST PLANNING ON STAYING OUT IN THE MIDDLE NOWHERE FOREVER????”

_“I TRIED CALLING YOU!”_ Henry Signed frantically, _“BUT THERE’S NO SERVICE AND NONE OF THE SOLDIERS THAT CAME THROUGH BELIEVED ME!”_

“WAIT! OTHER SOLDIERS SAW YOU, BUT DIDN’T BRING YOU BACK????”

_“YEAH!”_

Charles let out a loud, frustrated yell and fell and slammed himself back into Henry’s chest. The quick transition from blinding joy to seeing Henry too rage that he could’ve seen him sooner had left him tired. He just wanted to grab Henry and go home.

He sighed and looked up at him “I’m really glad you’re alive.” 

_“Oh really? Damn, I couldn’t tell.”_

Charles laughed a tired, breathy laugh, “Don’t be mean to me!”

_“I’m not! You’re just sensitive!”_ Henry signed with a snort, _“You’re starting to shiver, come inside real quick and warm up.”_

  
“That’d be nice,” he turned his head back to Ellie, who’d been watching them awkwardly, “Ellie, we’re gonna go inside, you wanna join us?”

“Yeah, I could use some water.”

The three went inside together, all slightly reveling at the sudden warmth, and sat down at the bar. The bartender came out with Henry’s food, but stopped, looked at the three of them, and held up three fingers. 

_“You guys hungry?”_ Henry asked.

They both nodded no. He shrugged and held up one finger. She put one spoon and set the bowl down in front of him. He devoured it with terrifying speed, while Ellie watched with respect and Charles watched with fondness. Then Charles got an idea. 

“Y’know Henry. The Toppat Clan has been giving us a lot of problems lately-”

“That’s an understatement,” Ellie said with a snort. 

“Exactly! Ellie and I make a great team, but we’re missing something. Or maybe someone-”

Henry held up his had and put down his spoon, _“Don’t bother trying to convince me, I’m already on board.”_

Charles broke out in a blinding smile and threw his arms around both his shoulders, drawing them both in for a hug, “HECK YEAH! With your weird tools, my drivers’ licenses, and Ellie’s common sense, those Toppats won’t know what hit them!”

“Hell yeah! Triple threat time!” Ellie exclaimed.

The three stood up and headed towards the door. Henry gave the bartender a small salute, and she smiled in return. 

“C’mon! I have a way we can get into space!”

The three toppled out of the bar, brimming with excitement. 

“Wait,” Ellie asked, “How are we going to get Galeforce to agree to this? He hasn’t approved any of your plans since, ever.”

“Oh, I was um, thinking we- uh- we wouldn’t tell him…”

Henry and Ellie stared at him for a moment, then each other. Then they burst out with excitement.

“HELL YEAH! CHARLES IS BREAKING THE RULES!”

_“WE GOT ‘EM, BOYS!”_

The two high fived and Charles decided not to fight it. It was true, he was breaking the rules, but he had too. This was the greatest plan he’d come up with, and he had to put it in action. Even if he’d get an earful from a very disappointed Galeforce. But when the Toppats were defeated, it’d be worth it. 

There was no way this would go wrong! Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so, I started going back to school today, Which means 
> 
> 1) I'll update more because when I'm bored at school I write.
> 
> 2) I'll get so swept up in shit I'll update again in, like, a month 
> 
> Let's hope it's #1


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh, it's time.

“Borrowing” a secret military prototype was way to easy. Or maybe it was hard, and Ellie and Henry were just that good. It didn’t matter, what mattered was that they were ready to take down the Toppat Clan once and for all. 

Charles had never flown through space before, but he imminently loved it. It was all the best parts of flying a helicopter, but with no wind resistance or anything. Just smooth gliding among the stars.

“Ya’know, I’ve always wanted to go to space,” Charles said, locking on to their target.

“Same,” Ellie said, squished between Charles and the wall. When they all got back she was going to tell the scientist who made these to make them bigger, “When I was a kid I wanted to see what stars tasted like.”

Henry snorted and tried to sign in what little room there was,  _ “You wanted to eat a star?” _

“Yeah! I always thought they’d taste great! Like super hot and sugary.”

“Like a brownie?” Charles asked.

“No, not chocolate, cinnamon, or vanilla.”

_ “Oh, like a cinnamon roll?” _

“Exactly!” 

“We’re here,” Charles said. Stopping the ship about 100ft away from The Toppats orbital station, “You guys remember the plan?” he asked, hoping they didn’t.

Sadly, they both nodded their heads. Charles didn’t want to come up with a plan ahead of time, thinking it’d be better to fly by the seat of their pants. That way they’d be already thinking on the fly if they had to suddenly change things up. But Ellie had insisted on thinking ahead, and Henry, the traitor, had agreed it was probably best. 

The plan was fine, he guessed, he’d send them over in a trash ball, then shoot a laser so they would have a hole to get in through. Then they would cause an engine malfunction, giving them enough time to hop back out, where Charles would swing by and pick them up. 

The Trash part went off without a hitch, and they were hanging off the wall, ready for him to shoot. And he was going to, but then he got to thinking about everything the Toppats had done. How they’d stolen from so many, how they’d hurt so many of his coworkers, how they’d peed on his helicopter and called him a cuck. No, this was personal. Too personal to let Ellie and Henry have all the fun taking them down.

“Charles, are you going to shoot anytime soon?” Ellie asked, speaking into her nano-suits earpiece.

“No.”

“What-”

“Y’know what? Naw! This calls for some bold action!”

Charles slammed his foot on the gas and barreled towards the station. 

“I’M THE BOLD ACTION MAAAAAAAAAAN!”

“CHARLES-”

Ellie was interrupted by the explosion from the ship hitting the station. Henry and she were dragged by the ship as it crashed into the engine. They both fell onto the core room floor, injured, but alive. Charles fell limply from the ship, landing next to them. His injuries looked worse than theirs, and his prized headphones were scuffed up, but he was also alive. 

Charles coughed and looked up at them, his award-winning smile spread across his face, “I’ve always wanted to do that!”

“When we get back Earth we’re having a talk about sticking to the fucking plan.” Ellie hissed, popping her arm back into her shoulder.

Charles laughed and helped Henry to his feet, “Ok, fair enough. Anyways we should probably find a way off this station before it explodes.”

The three bolted towards the door, making it just in time before it slammed down, locking them inside the small corridor. Charles hit the open button on the panel and it replied with a flash of red and glitched out text which presumably said ‘access denied.’

He looked back at his friends and said, “Looks like the doors jammed. This is the only way through, though.”

“Here, we’ll just lift it!” Ellie said, walking over and hooking her finger from underneath.

“Smart!” Charles replied, doing the same, they began to lift it, making it halfway up, but not any farther, “Henry, come help us out-”

When the two looked back, they saw Henry holding a large vent grate, standing next to a perfect sized hole for the three of them to crawl through. Ellie and Charles looked at each other, and dropped the door, heading towards their escape. Charles went in first, with Ellie and Henry behind. 

“Crawling through the vents~ _.”  _ Charles sang quietly, looking for a way out.

“These wounds will take forever to heal~ thank you for that Charles~” Ellie sang back in the same tune. 

Henry laughed and they heard him sign something, but couldn’t see it through the darkness. Another explosion shook them around, making them all wince in pain as their new injuries were hit again. The alarms got louder, and they heard people begin to scream and cry.

“Oh boy,” Charles said nervously, “We’re running out of time.”

“Let’s hope there's some escape pods or something on the other side,” Ellie said, masking her nervousness a bit better than Charles.

Charles bumped into a wall in front of him, he put out his hands to feet it, and it swung open. People we’re running past to the left, screaming at each other about escape pods and such. Charles slid out and held it open for his friends. Once they were both out, he ran where everyone else was, Ellie and Henry close behind.

They reached a small group of three escape pods. Henry pointed to the broken one, signing that it would probably be open since no one would want to risk the glass breaking. But since he had some duct tape, if the glass broke they could just tape it up. Charles had no objection, and Ellie was too out of it to argue the logicality. 

They went over to it and Henry pressed the open button, which just made it let out a noise, he tried again, this time harder, but got the same result. Ellie tiredly slammed her fist against it, and it opened. The boys gave her a small round of applause and she just chuckled. They eagerly sat down and began to relax. 

“Ugh, that was intense,” Charles said as he rubbed his eyes, making plans to sleep on their way down. Henry scooted over to him, and he put his head on his shoulder. Charles smiled up at him, “Can’t wait to go ho-”

Henry was ripped out of the pod by a stay toppat. Who slammed him to the ground, ready to beat him to death. Charles and Ellie Scrambled to their feet, Charles shoving the toppat to the ground and Ellie throwing Henry back into the pod. The toppat lunged at Ellie but was too slow. Charles shoved her out of the toppats path and into the pod.

As he had the Toppat collide, he grabbed him by the neck and slammed his face against the pod's external close door button. He grabbed the toppat again and rammed his face against the pods' window, keeping him there as he spoke.

“Don’t worry about me,” the toppat slammed his foot against his shin and he cringed with pain, but he didn’t let go, “Ow! I’ll find another way!” 

Before Henry and Ellie could react, the pod shot out. Leaving Charles alone with the Toppat. The Toppat broke free of his grasp and headbutted him. Charles punched him in the throat as hard as he could, and the toppat fell. Whether he was dead or just unconscious didn’t matter to Charles, they all were about to die anyway.

He stole the Toppats coat and wrapped himself in it, wanting to stay warm. He sat against the wall and took off his headphones, messing with the antenna a bit. He was able to get a signal. He took a deep breath, hoped to any godlike being out there that this was reaching his friends, and spoke.

“Henry? Ellie? You guys there?”

There was no response. Charles kept on hoping.

He groaned in pain and continued in his regular cheery tone, not wanting his friends to get sad if they could hear him, “Man, that roughed me up. Got him though!”

“Gotta be another escape pod sound here somewhere,” he lied as he laid down on the floor, wanting nothing more than to sleep, “We did it though! We got ‘em!”

There was a fire rushing up to him, he could feel its warmth starting to burn, “Better plan then Ellie’s right?”

He smiled that award-winning smile of his, as tears began to spill. He didn’t let his voice waiver though, he didn’t want his friends to realize what was happening. He didn’t want them to be sad if he could prevent it.

“You could say-”

He closed his eyes and let the fire take him.

“You could say it was the greatest-”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit, it's the end

When Charles opened his eyes, he was lying among the stars. He blinked in surprise, looking around to confirm that, yes, he was in space. He pushed himself up off of nothing, sitting criss-cross applesauce as he continued to look around. 

It was stunning.

All around him were twisting shades of purples, blues, and blacks. Dotted gently with the bright whites of the stars and multicolored plants. It reminded him of a book he read in the school library when he was a kid. 

There was a star close to him, he noticed, close enough for him to reach out and grab it. So he did. He squinted through its bright light and tossed it between his hands. It was warm and smooth, but not hard. In trying to see how stable it was, he broke it in half, revealing its bread-like inside. 

He blinked in surprise, processing that stars were not made of gas, but bread. He raised a half to his nose and gave it a sniff, yep, that was the smell of bread, cinnamon roll bread to be exact. He took a bite out of the star, and yeah, Ellie was right, stars tased like cinnamon rolls. Specifically, the cinnamon rolls from a coffee shop right next to his old high school. He scarfed down the rest of the star, hoping to appease the rapid hunger that appeared out of nowhere.   
  


_ “Pulse stale, we can finally start the surgery.” _

Charles looked around confused, he could have sworn he heard something. Though, that shouldn't be possible, since there wasn’t any sound in space. Speaking of things making sense, how was he here, in space without a suit. How did he even get in space in the first place? Wait he knew how, Ellie and Henry stole that Government prototype. Why did they do that? To taste stars? No. No, it was something more serious, right?

He groaned and laid back down. He pressed his palms to his eyes and tried to focus, tried to remember why he was here. But all of his memories were blurry and his thoughts kept jumbling them up. He sighed and put his arms to his sides. Maybe he had died and this was the afterlife. He did read something online about a person claiming that people turned into stars when they died, but they also claimed Jews controlled the sewer system, so he chalked it up as an insane person rambling. But hey, maybe they were right.

Did he die? He did remember feeling sad recently, but that probably because he was missing Henry- Wait No, Henry was alive! Ellie and Him found him at a bar! Yeah, then they all agreed to take down the Toppats-

“T he Toppat orbital station!” he exclaimed, shooting up.

Yes! They stole- borrowed the prototype to go take down the Toppats, and he got to use his greatest plan! They won, right? Yeah, yeah they won. He remembered getting into the escape pod, he must have slipped out or something and gotten knocked out. That's why he was in space, he just needed to wait for Ellie and Henry to come back and get him.

Where were the remains of the Toppat station, though? He couldn’t see anything but stars and planets, he couldn’t even see Earth. Did he drift away?

A burning in his shoulder distracted it from his thoughts. He looked over and tried rubbing it, hoping it was just a cramp. But then it got worse, feeling like someone was dumping buckets of hot glue onto him. He screamed in pain and writhed in pain as it continued to get even worse.

_ “Shit, I think he’s feeling it. Increase morphine.” _

He looked up in confusion, trying to find the voice through his tears. Until he felt a small prick on his shoulder and all of the pain vanished. He slowly straightened himself out, trying to get to his feet to stand. Once he succeeded he loudly said, 

“Excuse me, but what the  **FUCK** is going on? I can hear you, you know! Come out and tell me what's happening!”

The response was silence. He angrily crossed his arms and hissed, “Well Fine! I’ll just come and find you!”

He found that walking in space was like walking on earth. The same amount of gravity and the endless void below him acted as a floor. Weird, but Charles was too angry to focus on it. He wanted to find the person who he presumed was controlling all of this! This probably wasn’t even space! Some angry Toppat who had survived the explosion had probably found him and was torturing him. Which was unneeded! He was already tortured enough when he died in the-

Wait? Oh. Oh yeah, he died, didn’t he? He stopped in his tracks, taking a moment to fully realize that he was dead. That’s why he remembered feeling sad, because he was saying goodbye to his friends for the final time. 

Did that mean this was Hell? It would make sense why he was in pain earlier, he was being tortured for his sins. But he didn’t think he was  _ that _ bad of a guy when he was alive. Sure, he was impulsive and childish, getting others into trouble because he thought it would be fun. But he didn’t think that was grounds for Hell. Maybe it was, he didn’t know, he wasn’t religious.

Something bright blazed behind him, and he turned to face it. When he did everything else melted away, bleeding into the same soft pink you see when you close your eyes facing a light. Charles watched as the sun looked down at him. 

“I think it’s time to wake up,” it said.

And before he could say anything, he was blinded by white.

  
  
  
  


When Charles opened his eyes, he was in a bed. A blonde woman with pink lens glasses stood over him, shining a bright light into his eyes. He groaned and turned his head away, trying to lift his arm to cover his eyes, but his left arm wouldn’t move, he couldn’t even feel it. He couldn’t feel anything on his left side the more awake he got. He began to get nervous, struggling to sit up and see what was wrong with his left side.

The lady standing over moved to give him some space, waving her hands in a calm down motion, “Hey! Easy! Easy! You’ll tear open your stitches!”

Charles forced himself to calm down, not wanting to be in pain again. He looked up at her and asked, “Who are you?”

“My name is Dr. Yana Vinschpinsilstien, though patients like you can just call me Dr. V.”

“Patient? Why am I a- oh yeah, I died. Guess that would warrant a visit to the doctor”

“You remember dying?” 

“Kinda? I remember the fire and then nothing. Dang, it's amazing how I made it in one piece, like, yeah I died, but I’m still intact.”

Dr. V stared at him awkwardly and he sighed, “I’m not in one piece, am I?”

“Well, you are now!” she said, pulling down the blanket on his left side, revealing a cybernetic arm and leg. Charles looked down at them wide-eyed.

“Holy fuck.” Charles said.

“Yes, this fuck is very holy,” she hummed, when she noticed that he wasn’t responding, she calmly asked, “Are you ok? I know it's a hard thing to process-”

“This is so cool!” Charles exclaimed, "Can I move them like my regular arm and leg?"

"Of course! I just didn't turn them on yet to prevent you from, I don't know, leaving immediately and getting yourself killed on some kinda revenge mission."

He snorted, "What kind of idiot would go and get themselves killed right after they were brought back to life?" 

Henry burst in the door, Ellie right behind. They both looked like they just woke up after not sleeping for weeks. Charles looked over and smiled, waving with his usable arm. 

“Oh! Hey guys-”

Charles was interrupted by the two tackling him on both sides. They both hugged him so tightly he couldn’t speak, not that he could speak over Ellie’s yelling about how much of an idiot he was. Dr. V stood awkwardly off to the side, trying to find a good point to cut in.

“... And I swear to God! If you even  _ T H I N K  _ of dying again-” Ellie yelled.

“Ellie-” Dr. V said.

“-I will bring you back to life and beat you with your own helicopter!”

“Ellie.”

“Yeah, Yana?” Ellie said, completely dropping her anger as she looked back.

“I need you to get off my patient real quick so I can turn on his prosthetics.”

“Oh, ok.” 

Ellie released Charles from her death grip and stood up beside him. Henry lingered a moment, but released him as well. Dr. V went back over to Charles and picked up his arm, opening a small panel under his elbow, messing with whatever was inside.

"So," Charle's asked, "You two know each other?"

"Yeah!" Ellie exclaimed, "I helped Yana here escape the wall a couple of years ago when she got caught for her many war crimes."

"War crimes?" Charles asked.

"Oh, you know," Dr. V said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Charles did not know, but working with reformed criminals had taught him not to ask about it, deciding it'd be better to change subjects.

"So- uh- how'd you find me? Were you in space or?"

"Nope, I found your body amongst some rubble in the sea about a month ago. Your arm was gone and your leg had been frozen in space: but besides that, you were fine. I believe the rubble protected you during your entering into orbit."

"Huh."

"Yeah. I recognized you, after I fished you out, from a picture Ellie sent asking for titty pics. I was always going to bring you back, but she said if I did, a man named Galeforce-"

"Would pardon you of your crimes?" Charles interrupted.

"How did you know?"

Chalre laughed, along with Ellie and Henry, "that's just what he does."

Dr. V smiled and closed the panel on his arm, resting it back down on the bed.

The feeling came back to his arm slowly, like a pressure was finally lifted off and the blood could begin circulating again. Charles slowly lifted his arm in the air, clenching his fingers with a purpose. It didn’t feel like it used to, like skin against skin, but like cold against cold. But he couldn’t feel a difference from feeling things with his skin hand.

_ “How does it feel?”  _ Henry asked, his hands gently shaking with nerves as he signed.

“Normal.” he said, linking his metal fingers with his regular ones, stretching his arms. He spread his arms wide, “Well, now that I can hug back, get back in here!”

Neither of them needed any more persuasion.

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The triple threat gang sat on Charles' couch in their pjs. Focusing intently on the game of Mario Kart in front of them. Charles was currently in 1st place, much to his friends' anger.

Charles had been back at his apartment for about two weeks now, after about a month stuck on Dr. V’s ship, where he became accustomed to his new limbs and all their features. Despite being better, he was still on medical leave. Henry and Ellie were also put on it, not because they were hurt, but because Galeforce didn’t trust Charles not to do anything reckless home alone with his new abilities.

"Henry what the fuck!" Ellie yelled as Henry pelted her with a shell mid ramp trick.

_ "Get gud."  _ Henry quickly signed, not wanting to let go of the controller for too long.

"Henry, you are the only person I know who says nothing, but who I want to shut up the most, y'know that?"

_ "I'm honored." _

The oven dinged from the kitchen beside them. Charles leaned over Henry, and cast his arm out like a fishing pole. He managed to slam against the stop button, and hook onto the handle. He gently yanked back, hoping to just open it, but took off the door.

"Damn it." Charles sighed.

"Did you rip it off again?" Ellie asked. Charles nodded and she continued, "we'll fix it later, just get the pizza rolls."

Charles grabbed the pan inside and sloppily poured its contents into a plastic bowl on the counter. He grabbed the bowl and reeled his arm back. It clicked back into place and he returned to his previous sitting position, this time with the bowl in his lap.

It was funny, despite everything that had happened in the past year in a half, and for how little time they've all been friends, they had all built strong bonds with each other, making it impossible to separate them. And when they were together, they raised hell the likes no bad guy had ever seen.

They really were the Goverments best triple threat, and each others closest friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did y'all really think Charle's death was permanent? Y'all think I have the G U T S.
> 
> Anyway, thank you all for sticking with me throughout my first story here, love y'all, and have a nice day!


End file.
